Prof. Kwaku Azar on why state must appeal Agradaa’s sentence reduction

A legal academic, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare (popularly known as Kwaku Azar), has criticized an appellate court decision to reduce the prison term imposed on evangelist Patricia Asiedua Asiamah, known as Nana Agradaa, arguing that the ruling risks weakening deterrence and public confidence in the justice system.

In a Facebook post on Friday, 6 February, Prof Asare said the court’s approach created what he described as a troubling gap in the handling of fraud cases, and warned against any perception that well-known defendants receive more favourable outcomes.

He said the matter, in his view, extends beyond the individual at the centre of the case and touches on the credibility of judicial decision-making. “Justice is not about extremes. It is about balance,” he wrote, adding that he believed “turning correction into leniency was wrong.”

Five points of criticism

1) Law replaced with personal opinion
Prof Asare argued that the appellate court did not show the trial court had abused its discretion, but instead appeared to lean on personal reflections. He criticised references he said were made to Bible verses, commentary about pastors and prophecies, and the judge’s own discomfort, warning that sentencing must be anchored in legal principle and precedent rather than moral commentary.

2) Mitigation mistaken for remorse
He questioned the court’s reliance on factors such as Agradaa’s reported inability to sleep and her lawyers’ submissions about her children, saying these were typical mitigation pleas and should not be treated as proof of repentance. He said the reduction failed to properly account for what he described as deliberate deception and abuse of religious trust.

3) Rejecting “fraud arithmetic
Prof Asare also faulted the reasoning that converted the initial sentence into a rough formula of one year for each ₵100 taken. He said fraud is not assessed only by the cash value, but by the breach of trust and the wider social harm that comes with such offences.

4) Deterrence diluted
He argued that a short custodial term could be read as a low-risk outcome for scams targeting large numbers of victims with small individual losses. In his view, that reduces the preventive value of sentencing and shifts the balance away from public protection.

5) Risk of a wider precedent
Finally, he warned that the decision could become a reference point in future fraud cases, encouraging defence counsel to push for lighter sentences whenever the amounts involved appear modest, even where the emotional and social impact is significant.